An Autobiography of a Digital Idea - Southwestern Law School

488 Journal of Legal Education
tools. At the time, PowerPoint was the new, exciting technology. However, when
I used PowerPoint, I found that my students actually became less engaged in
class as they sat back and passively watched a slide show instead of sitting up
and becoming engrossed in the materials. While my slides might have helped
the visual learners in the class and lifted some eyes off their laptops, they did
nothing to engage the digital learner. 13 At this point I realized I was using
technological devices ineffectively as “bells and whistles” 14 instead of creating
an environment to keep students engaged and improve their understanding
of the materials. Therefore, I began researching the ways in which digital
students think so that I could use the new technology effectively to better
reach them in the classroom. 15
III. The Digital Law Student
In my research and experimentation, I found that digital-age students think
and learn much differently from previous generations. First, they learn best
from three-dimensional, discovery-based learning. Second, they can multitask
and telescope, gathering information quickly from a variety of sources. Third,
digital students need to be “powered up” to learn. In addition, they benefit
from peer review and interaction in a collaborative environment—more so
than other generations. Finally, they crave immediate feedback and demand
convenience.
A. Three-Dimensional, Discovery-Based Learning
First, while most professors think in linear fashion, moving from broad
category to narrower categories usually in a page-by-page textual format,
digital students think more three-dimensionally, moving from one screen to the
next on the computer without regard for context. 16 While a traditional learner
(such as a professor) might need to enter a text at the beginning, a digital
learner can enter at any location and exit at any time. Hyperlinks make this
13. Other professors have come to the same conclusions. See Alison Sulentic, PowerPoint and
the Power Nap: Adventures in PowerPoint, Gonz. Univ./Inst. For Law Sch. Teaching
(Spokane, Wash. 1999); Douglas L. Leslie, How Not to Teach Contracts and any Other
Course: PowerPoint, Laptops, and the Case File Method, 44 St. Louis U. L.J. 1289, 1304–
1306 (2000); see also Joel Forman, Next-Generation Educational Technology versus the
Lecture, Educause 12 ( 2003) (PowerPoint slides are weak in relation to the visual standards
set by professional image makers in the television, film, video-gaming, and advertising
industries).
14. Caron & Gely, supra note 3, at 551.
15. Diana R. Donahoe, Teachinglaw.com, Bridging the Digital Divide, 5 Va. J.L. & Tech. 13
(2000). In this article, I compared the differences between the ways in which most law
school professors think with the ways in which most of our students think. I also suggested
ways for professors to bridge the digital divide to reach their students in the classroom,
including the need for professors to write interactive, multimedia casebooks to use in their
classes.
16. Id.